Cup dispenser



H. CARLE Feb. 2 19276.

CUP DISPENSER Filed Jan. l2 1924 v I llll Il IIIIR'lTu/llll Il Il illll Il u lNvEN'roR @aulo ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 2, 1926.

1,571,705 PATE-NT oFFlcE.

HAROLD CABLE, 0F EUFEALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO VORTEX MFG. CO, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CUP DISPENSER.

Application med January 12, 1924. serial No. 685,784.

To all whom it may concern.'

. Be it known that I, HAROLD CARLE, a subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erle and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cup Dispensers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which 1t appertains to make and use the same.

rlhis invention relates to apparatus for dispensing flexible articles one by one from a suitable support and with respect to its more specific features to apparatus for dispensing flexible resilient conical cups of paper or like material from a columnof closely nested cups.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a practical device of simple and relatively inexpensive construction and such as to minimize tendency to dispense the cups in other than the predetermined manner.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an efficient device of the character described which may take advantage of the character of the material and of the shape of the cups in effecting the dispensing thereof.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be `had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows the apparatus largely in plan, a portionlof the frame being broken away to disclose the underlying parts;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of Fig. l taken through the drawing rolls, parts of the cup magazine being omitted;

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation taken at substantially right angles to Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is an elevation, partly in section, looking at the ldevice from the side opposite that disclosed in Fig. 2, the dome being broken away; A

Figure 5 is a 'detail of one of the drawing rollers and a portion of its shaft; and

Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating a cup and certain relations thereof to the-cup support. l

Referring now more specifically to the drawing', the numeral l indicates the side, or

enclosing wall, of a casing which depends from a frame, or frame support 3, this plate being normally horizontally disposed andV provided with an extension or bracket 2 for attachment to a wall'bracket, a table or the v like for supporting the dispenser in convenient position for use. The numeral 4 indicates a brace, being a ring fixed to the upper ends of and bracing the guide rods 5 upstanding from the plate 3. The numeral 6 indicates the cups which, as illustrated, are conical. In normal shape the open end, or mouth, of each cup liesin a `single plane. The cups are made-of paper, usually folded 1nto conical shape, and are flexible and resilient.. A portion of a column of such cups appears in Fig. 4, the lowermost cup of the' column being supported by a rigid member so as to depend through an opening 8 in the plate 3, into cooperative relation with the cup gripping and drawing mechanism hereinafter described. The column of closely nested cups 6 may be inserted through the opening provided by the ring'4 so as to lie between the guide rods 5 and be guided by the latter on their descent to the support as the cups are removed one by one from the vbottom of the column. A cover, or 'dome 7, -which may be of glass closed at the top, may

be removably mounted upon the plate 3 t0 enclose the column of cups and the rods 5. I

The element which directly supports the column of cups in position for dispensing is indicated at 10, being a fiat cup supportmg ring or ring-like member, seated in a recess 9 in the plate 3 and providing an opening through which the lowermost cup projects land through which it may be drawnby the 8ol I threaded ends engaged by the -nuts 12.

The cup gripping and drawing mechanism includes a gr1pping and drawing roll 13 operatively connected to rotate with the roll shaft 14. In the embodiment illustrated, apair of drawing rolls similar in construction is employed. Each drawing roll comprises a metal body fastened to the shaft 14, said shaft being rotatably mounted in a bearing bracket 15 supported by the plate 3. In the present embodiment a separate bracket 15 is employed for each draw ing roll, and horizontally projecting from each bracket 15 is a bearmg or sleeve 21 in which the shaft 14 is rotatably supported. The drawing rolls 20 are disposed below the cup support 10 and lie on opposite sides of the lowermost cu of the cup column. In the present embo iment they are so related to each other and to the cup support ,10 that the lowermost cup in the column is closely adjacent the peripheries of the drawing rolls. The bearings 21 may extend-from the bracket 15 to the side of the rolls and be of such a rigid character as to reliably support the rolls in operative relations to the cups.

Means are provided to rotate the rolls while in contact with the cup so as to detach the cup from the support and from the othercups in the column. In the present embodiment, one of the shafts 14 is provided with a crank 17 which may have a suitable handle 22. Pinned to the shafts 14 are the gears 16, one mounted on one of the bearing brackets 15, and the other on the other bracket. The numerals 18 and 19 indicate a pair of intermeshing gears, oneV of which meshes with thegear 16 of one of the shafts 14, and the other of which mesheswith a similar gear 16 of the other shaft 14. The. several gears, 16, 18 and 19, form driving connections between the roll shafts and the driving member, or shaft 14.

The gripping and drawing rolls are provided with soft, frictiona'l, peripheral faces which come -in contact with the cup effectively frictionally to grip the same and upon rotation to draw the cup from the cup support. In the present embodiment, said face is provided by a soft rubber band 2O encircling the body of each drawing roll and lying in a recess therein. This recess is curved axially of the roll so that the outer face of the band is generally accommodated to the peripheral shaft of the cup. In the present embodiment as the drawing rolls rotate, their frictional face portions approach and recede from the longitudinal axis of the cup, and tov this end the axes of the friction drawing rolls are eccentric to the cup contacting rubber faces 20. Thus said faces include cup contacting portions at unequal distances from the axes of rotation of the rolls respectively. The cup contacting faces furthermore are ofv suiicient peripheral extent not only to draw the cup from the support, but to discharge the detached cup from the drawing mechanism, permitting the cup to drop through an opening 23 in the lower part of the-casing 1, where it may be arrested by a lip 24 in conjunction 'with the wall of the opening 23. Sufficient peripheral extent for discharge is provided, when the rolls are of small diameter, by making the'friction faces of the drawing rolls continuous around the rolls. y

Itis found in practice that the' dispensingoperationof the drawing rolls is facilitated by resiliently opposing receding movement of the roll in respect to the longitudinal axis is permitted an oscillatory movement, so

that the shafts 14 may have a similar move- The numeral.

ment in respect to each other. 25 indicates a pivot pin having a screw connection with one of the brackets 15 and serving to support said bracket for oscillatory '95 movement on the plate 3 transversely of the longitudinal axis'of the cups, the drawing rolls 13 being thereby permitted to have relative approaching and receding movements transversely of the cups. As il1ustrated, said oscillatory movement is in a plane parallel to the supporting plane of the cup supporting ring 10.- The numeral 26 indicates a flat spring, being an 'extension of a spring plate 27 bolted to the oscillatory bracket 15, the extension pressing against the face of the other bracket 15 and tending to urge the correspondingly supported drawing roll toward the other roll. In the embo-diment illustrated, the bracket supporting the other roll is fixed in relation to the frame. Inasmuch as inthe present embodiment the-gear18 is mounted on the fixed bracket and the gear 19 on the .oscillatory bracket, the oscillatory movement of one bracket causes relative sidewise movement between the gears 18 and 19. However, these gears are prevented from operative disengagement by the provision of a slot 28 in the plate 3 in conjunction with a pin 29 upstanding from the oscillatory bracket into engagement with said slot. The pin and slot arrangement limits the amplitude of the oscillatory movement between the gears and between the friction drawing rolls. f OpemlfmaA column of the nested cups is placed in the cup magazine, the lowermost cup projecting through the opening in the cup support 10 and rest-ing upon thecup supporting shoulders provided by the opening. The lowermost cup depends sufciently to ing drawing, one of the' bearing brackets 15 enter between the cup drawing rolls. By turning the crank 17, the drawing rolls will be rotated and their friction faces will cooperate to grip the lowermost cup anddraw the same from the ring l0. The next adjacent cup will be arrested by the ring.` Due to the eccentric mounting of the drawing rolls, the lwermost cup will be squeezed and thereby collapsed in a predetermined transverse direction, as illustrated diagrammatically by the dotted lines in Fig. 6, so that the edges of its mouth adjacent the ends of the diame the cups. After the lowermost cup has been detached, it may be collapsed Afurther on ac'- count of the further increase in radial length column of cups rests in the ring l() the cups referred to, but eventually the radial lengths presented to the cups will begin to decrease and the peripheral surfaces of the drawing rolls will therefore recedefrom each other better to accommodate the increasing diameter of the cup as it is drawn between the rolls.

The drawing rolls 'are disposed opposite each other diametrically of the cups and operate to squeeze the cups along the similarly located general diameter or line. As the are supported by the oppositelydisposed shoulders, or edges, of the ring at points substantially in longitudinal alignment `with the line of squeezing.- When the cups are squeezed, they expand in a direction'at rightl angles to the -line of squeezing during actu? ation of the'drawing mechanism, and the cup Support is of such a character as to permit such expansion without injuring the cup. In

the lembodiment illustrated, the opening in 'the cup supporting ring 10 is oval, or elliptical in form, the minor axis of such oval being in substantially the same longitudinal plane as the line of squeezing referred to. Up-

on theflexing of the cups by the squeezing "operation, -as indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 6, it is desirable that the mouths of the cups adjacent the major axis of the oval remain out ofl contact with the ring after flexing. To this end, the inner edge of the ring adjacent to the major axis of the ovalshould preferably terminate in a plane 30 which is f above the plane 31 to which the cup mouth is collapsed adjacent said major axis. In the present embodiment, therefore, as the column of cups lies in supported relation to the ring 10, the inner edges ofsaid ring initially support the cups by a contact of the ring por tions between the dotted lines A and B, the lowermost cup beingiout of contact with the ring adjacent the ends ofthe major axis of the latter. Upon the occurrence of the squeezing operation hereinbefore referred to, the lowermost cup is collapsed, as indicated in 6.. This collapsing tends to free the lowermost cup from the ring, whereas the cup `immediately there-above tends to be caught by the ring and restrained from passing therethrough. v

'Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is in tended that all matter contained .in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

' It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the pair of cup drawing friction rolls rotatable on axes extending transversely of the cup path and adapted to cooperate to grip and draw the end cup of said column-from said support, a pair of rollI shafts with-which said rolls rotate, bearings for said shafts, one of said bearings being movable to effect relative approaching and receding movement between said rolls transversely'of thev cup, means including a spring for effecting relative movement between said bearings to cause approachingmovement 'of said rolls', a driving member, and driving` connections Eetween said roll shafts and driving mem- 2. A dispensing apparatus ofthe character described including, in combination, a support for a column of nested cups, a pair of cup drawing friction rolls rotatable on axes extending transversely of the cup path and adapted to cooperate `to grip and draw the end cup of said column from said support,

a pair of roll `shafts with which said rolls rotate, bearings for said shafts, one oscillatable toward and from the other, a spring operative to urge said bearings toward each other, and roll driving means including a pair of intermeshing gears one of which is mounted on said oscillatable bearing.

3. A dispensing apparatus ofthe character described including, in combination, a frame, an oval cup supporting ring carried by said lll frame, a pairof bearing brackets mounted a pair of roll shafts mounted in said brackets below said ring, friction drawing rolls rotatable with said roll shaftsadapted to cooperate with each other to squeeze an intermediate cup and collapse the cup in the direction of the minor axis of said ring, a spring tending to force one drawing roll in the direction of the other, and means adapted to rotate said roll shafts in unison.

- 4. A dispensing 4apparatus of thecharacter described including, in combination, a frame, an oval cup supporting ring carried by said frame, a pair of bearing brackets mounted on said frame, one of said brackets being oscillatable. in a plane parallel to said ring, a pair of roll shafts mounted in said brackets below said ring, friction drawing rolls rotatable with said roll shafts adapted to cooperate with` each other to squeeze an intermediate cup and collapse the cup inthe direction of the minor axis of said ring, a 'spring tending to impart to one shaft a movement inl the direction of the other,

and means adapted to rotate said roll shafts' mames in unison 'including gears on said shafts and 5. A dispensing apparatus of the characteg;l described including, in combination, a rame, an oval cup supporting ring carried by said frame, a pair of bearing brackets mounted onsaid frame, one of said brackets being oscillatable in a'plane'parallel to said ring, a pair of roll shafts mounted in said brackets below said ring, friction drawing' rolls rotatable with said roll shafts having 40 peripheral drawing faces of soft, frictional material, eccentric to the axes of said shafts, respectively, adapted to cooperate with each other to squeeze an intermediate cup and.

collapse the cup in the direction of the minor 45 axis of said ring, a springptending to move one shaft in the direction of the other, and means adapted to rotate said roll shafts in unison including gears on said shafts and intermediate gears meshing with each other,

vonejof said intermediate gears being oscillatable with said oscillatory bracket,

In testimony whereof afl-1X my sig-nature.

l' HAROLD CARLE. 

